The mood was festive at Tuesday's Green Drinks event at O'Reilly's Pub on Millburn Avenue.

The group had much to celebrate. Township Committeewoman Kathy Leventhal was showing off the two awards from Sustainable Jersey which were presented at the New Jersey League of Municipalities meeting in Atlantic City last month.

Vice Mayor Fred Profeta, arguably the greenest man in town, was unable to attend. Apparently Profeta got tied up at his day job back in New York City. Sheila Baker Gujral of Environmental Action Associates filled in, introducing Dennis Percher and Tricia Zimic who both reported on improvements to South Mountain Reservation made by their organization, the South Mountain Conservancy.

Percher had exciting news for those who love to frequent Hemlock Falls (most easily accessed from South Orange Avenue from the entrance near the pedestrian bridge). Seven new benches have been added for hikers who want to stop and enjoy the beauty of the location after their exertions.

During the meet-and-greet portion of the event before the presentation, Patch had a chance to catch up with Amy Hebard, founder and chief research officer at Earthsense. Her firm performs surveys on attitudes related to environmental issues.

Hebard noted that the recent controversy known as ClimateGate was a topic of conversation at a recent Webinar that she conducted. ("ClimateGate" is the popular term for the brouhaha over recently discovered emails in which scientists from the University of East Anglia purportedly tried to suppress research that refuted climate change.)

"The first question [at the Webinar] was 'What's your view on ClimateGate?'" Hebard's response? "Scientists are human like the rest of us." She added, "It will reinforce the views of those who are skeptical about climate change."

Hebard did say the a few emails among a handful of scientists will not refute decades of research by thousands. Still, "In our new version of the Green Confidence Index, we will have a question about it."